Thumbs, Toes and Tears (And Other Traits That Make Us Human) - e-book With a special forward by Ray Kurzweil.

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The fascinating evolutionary links between six seemingly unremarkable traits that make us the very remarkable creatures we are.

Countless behaviors separate us from the rest of the animal kingdom, but all of them can be traced one way or another to six traits that are unique to the human race―our big toe, our opposable thumb, our oddly shaped pharynx, and our ability to laugh, kiss, and cry. At first glance these may not seem to be connected but they are. Each marks a fork in the evolutionary road where we went one way and the rest of the animal kingdom went another. Each opens small passageways on the peculiar geography of the human heart and mind. Publisher’s Weekly called the book, “fascinating and superbly written.”

The fascinating evolutionary links between six seemingly unremarkable traits that make us the very remarkable creatures we are.

Countless behaviors separate us from the rest of the animal kingdom, but all of them can be traced one way or another to six traits that are unique to the human race―our big toe, our opposable thumb, our oddly shaped pharynx, and our ability to laugh, kiss, and cry. At first glance these may not seem to be connected but they are. Each marks a fork in the evolutionary road where we went one way and the rest of the animal kingdom went another. Each opens small passageways on the peculiar geography of the human heart and mind. Publisher’s Weekly called the book, “fascinating and superbly written.”

We are strange creatures when compared to the rest of the animal world. How did that happen? My goal with this book was to explore and better understand the evolutionary forces that shaped our humanity? If we could understand the unique human traits that evolved , I thought these would create doorways that revealed how we became the creatures we are and why we act the way we do.

After a lot of research, I came up with six unique traits: the opposable thumb, our big toes, our very odd voice boxes (pharynx), laughing, crying and kissing. I learned a lot. If you read the book, I hope you will too.

— Chip Walter

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